STRADVISION is expanding its artificial intelligence (AI)-based vision perception technology, proven in mass-produced vehicles, into robotics and autonomous devices.

STRADVISION said Sept. 8 that it will join semiconductor design company Arm’s “Total Design for Physical AI” ecosystem. The announcement was made at the Arm Everywhere event in Shanghai, China.

STRADVISION plans to contribute vision perception technology accumulated over more than a decade in automotive mass-production environments to Arm’s physical AI ecosystem. Physical AI refers to AI technologies that perceive and interpret their surroundings and act in real-world environments, such as robots and autonomous vehicles.

STRADVISION has applied technologies including object detection and classification, depth estimation and semantic segmentation to front-facing cameras, surround-view systems and multi-camera systems. The company plans to extend its experience implementing AI vision technology in production vehicles under constraints on computing performance, power consumption, heat and cost to robots and other autonomous devices.

STRADVISION will also participate in developing Arm’s Robotics Capability Framework. The framework is designed to establish common standards defining what robots should perceive in different environments and the level at which they should independently make decisions and take actions.

Arm sees the cost and time required for system integration as key factors determining the pace of commercialization because robotic systems must combine technologies including semiconductors, AI models, middleware, development tools and applications. The common framework is intended to make it easier for companies using different semiconductors and software to design, compare and integrate robotic systems.

“The next challenge for physical AI is integrating increasingly advanced technologies into complete systems that can be deployed in real-world environments,” said Dermot O’Driscoll, vice president of Physical AI Business Development at Arm. “STRADVISION will bring proven expertise in perception technology.”

“For more than a decade, we have deployed perception technology in production vehicles across major automotive computing platforms,” said Philip Vidal, chief business officer (CBO) at STRADVISION. “We will support Arm’s efforts to create a common language for robotics.”

KT has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and physical artificial intelligence (AI) specialist DAIM Research to develop, demonstrate and commercialize physical AI technologies. The agreement follows discussions among the three organizations on continued business cooperation during the second phase of the Physical AI Alliance led by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

KT, KAIST and DAIM Research will cooperate on commercializing a dark factory platform for unmanned manufacturing, identifying physical AI business opportunities and expanding K-Physical AI into global markets.

Commercialization of the dark factory platform will center on the Ministry of Science and ICT's 2026 project to establish a research and development ecosystem for collaborative-intelligence physical AI-based software platforms. The project aims to develop and demonstrate AI-based unmanned and automated platforms that enable manufacturing sites to operate autonomously. The three organizations will participate in the project for five years.

The three organizations will focus on developing technologies to automate manufacturing processes based on logistics and manufacturing robot control platforms and robotics technologies held by KAIST and DAIM Research. They will also build a testbed similar to actual industrial environments to validate the technologies and expand their application to various manufacturing sectors based on the results.

KT will provide an operating platform that can integrate and manage various robots and AI systems based on its data platform. It also plans to support real-time decision-making and robot control using edge AI, which processes data close to robots to minimize latency, as well as high-speed, ultra-low-latency network infrastructure.

"The true competitiveness of physical AI does not end with developing good technology, but lies in making robots and AI work in actual manufacturing environments and validating their performance," said Choi Sung-yool, Senior Vice President for Research at KAIST.

Samsung SDS will deploy about 200 artificial intelligence (AI) specialists to corporate workplaces as part of efforts to strengthen its artificial intelligence transformation (AX) business. The company plans to expand its scope from analyzing and redesigning business processes to building and operating AI agents. It will also pursue an AI security business in cooperation with OpenAI.

Samsung SDS unveiled its "Multi-Dimensional AI Full Stack" strategy at REAL Summit 2026 in Seoul on Sept. 8.

"AI changes the way people work, but AX changes the business," Samsung SDS President and CEO Lee Junehee said. "AX is not simply about introducing AI to save time and costs, but about redesigning the business itself and the way work is done from the ground up."

One of the company's initiatives is the Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), an on-site AI specialist. FDEs work directly at corporate workplaces to analyze real-world problems and design and implement AI-based solutions. The FDE model was created by Palantir for its enterprise software business 22 years ago.

Samsung SDS plans to expand its team of AX-focused FDEs to about 200 by the end of this year through cooperation with OpenAI and Anthropic. They will work on-site, handling everything from analyzing customer workflows to developing AI agents and deploying and operating systems. Unlike the conventional approach of installing pre-built systems, the model continuously modifies and applies AI based on a company's operational data. Samsung SDS introduced FDEs in July as a new model for enterprise AI adoption.

Samsung SDS also announced a "Client Zero" policy to transform its own operations with AI first. The company will apply AX to seven major internal functions — development, procurement, quality, corporate support, project execution, marketing and sales — and offer externally the methods it validates internally. In effect, Samsung SDS intends to go through the trial-and-error process before its customers do.

The company also announced plans to enter the AI security business. Samsung SDS will participate as a pilot partner in OpenAI's Daybreak Partner Program to develop cybersecurity services using AI models. AI will automatically identify and validate corporate security vulnerabilities and provide patching solutions. As with FDEs, security specialists will be deployed to customer sites to implement the services.

Samsung SDS also plans to launch a "robot orchestration platform" in 2027 to integrate and manage multiple types of robots. The initial target will be about 430 existing manufacturing automation customers. The platform is intended to expand the company's physical AI business combining robotics and AI and target the autonomous manufacturing market.

Taken together, Samsung SDS's AX strategy significantly broadens its business scope, from supplying AI infrastructure and applying AI to enterprise operations to AI security and robot operations at manufacturing sites.

Securities analysts are also watching whether Samsung SDS's AX expansion will translate into higher managed service provider (MSP) and AI revenue. Hyundai Motor Securities analyst Choi Seung-ho said in a Sept. 2 report that one of the key factors to watch is whether accelerating AX adoption leads to faster MSP revenue growth, setting a target price of 300,000 won. Choi forecast Samsung SDS's 2026 revenue at 14.3457 trillion won and operating profit at 810.3 billion won.

LS Securities analyst Sun Yujin on Aug. 19 described Samsung SDS as a pioneer in South Korea's IT services industry at the forefront of AX. Sun cited growth in AI revenue from Samsung Group's AI transformation and the expansion of intelligent work management platforms for the government as key growth drivers for the second half and beyond, raising the target price to 307,000 won.

Samsung SDS's second-quarter IT services revenue rose 5% from a year earlier to 1.7625 trillion won. Cloud revenue increased 17% to 779.4 billion won. Revenue from the MSP business, which includes AX projects, was 346.7 billion won, up 17% from a year earlier, driven by AX projects in the financial sector and increased enterprise resource planning (ERP) projects in the shipbuilding industry, the company said.

Inswave is stepping up its push into the Japanese market with artificial intelligence (AI)-based development technologies.

Inswave said Sept. 8 that 32 representatives from major Japanese information technology (IT) companies visited its headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on Sept. 4 to review the company’s AI and digital transformation (DX) strategy and key products and discuss potential business cooperation. The delegation included executives and engineers from Japanese IT companies in the energy, public and manufacturing sectors.

Inswave demonstrated its flagship solution, WebSquare AI. The platform uses generative AI to support the entire web application development process, from publishing and coding to testing and operations management. It is an AI agent-based user interface and user experience (UI/UX) development platform.

The company highlighted spec-driven development (SDD), which generates and validates outputs based on development specifications, as a core part of its AI development strategy. The approach is aimed at building an enterprise development environment that goes beyond code generation to manage development quality and reliability.

Inswave has supplied web standards technologies to about 900 customers across more than 4,000 projects in South Korea. The company said this experience allows it to apply AI-based development technologies in areas such as finance and the public sector, where stability and security are critical.

Inswave plans to hold follow-up discussions with local IT companies and potential customers through its Japanese subsidiary, Inswave Japan.

“We will use Inswave Japan as a foothold to expand engagement with local partners and create tangible business cooperation opportunities in the Japanese market,” said Eo Se-ryong, chief executive officer of Inswave.

Kakao Games will launch “Dokkaebi’s World,” a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Supercat, on Oct. 8.

Kakao Games said Sept. 9 that it held an online showcase on Sept. 8, unveiling the game’s key content, service policies and launch schedule.

Dokkaebi’s World is a 2.5D MMORPG based on the intellectual property (IP) of Naver web novel and webtoon “Myeolgwi Sudojeon.” It combines 2D pixel-art characters with 3D backgrounds and features a world inspired by traditional Korean themes. Webtoon production company Redice Studio also participated in developing the IP.

The game’s main combat system, “Dosul,” consists of 12 styles. Each Dosul is linked to a unique mechanic called “Sinsik Gaebang,” allowing players to use different approaches depending on the combat situation.

The progression system emphasizes cooperation rather than competition among players, while incorporating optional player-versus-player (PvP) combat. Kakao Games also unveiled operational features including data management using an AI system called “Myorong” and “Dokkaebi General Assembly,” a program designed for regular communication with players.

Ahead of the official launch, Kakao Games will hold a live demonstration on Sept. 18. The developers will showcase actual gameplay and explain key content and systems in real time.

LG CNS is applying artificial intelligence (AI) agents to the Chaum health screening center. The company will build a system that analyzes customers' past screening records, recommends tests, drafts screening reports and supports follow-up care.

LG CNS said Sept. 9 that it recently held a kickoff meeting with Chaum and CHA Healthcare at the Chaum health screening center in Seoul's Gangnam district and began a proof of concept (PoC) for AI agents.

LG CNS will develop AI agents specialized for health screening operations, while Chaum will evaluate their efficiency and potential use in actual screening workflows.

Chaum currently creates personalized screening programs based on customers' past screening records, consultation history and physicians' recommendations. Nurses manually retrieve relevant information from multiple systems, including customer relationship management (CRM) and electronic medical records (EMR), while also preparing consultation records, managing follow-up care and scheduling.

LG CNS plans to have AI agents integrate and analyze screening records, test results, consultation records and follow-up schedules distributed across CRM and EMR systems. Based on previous screening results and medical staff recommendations, the AI will suggest necessary tests and explain the reasons for them. It will also help prepare materials explaining to customers why the tests are needed.

After screening, the AI will combine test results and medical assessments to draft screening reports. LG CNS also plans to use AI to prepare pre-screening precaution checklists, manage retesting and follow-up schedules at three-, six- and nine-month intervals, connect customers with abnormal findings to outpatient care and provide information on follow-up programs.

The companies are also considering introducing AI-powered interpretation and translation for foreign customers. Foreigners account for about 30% of customers at the Chaum health screening center, and AI could be used to provide screening results and assist during consultations.

LG CNS plans to use the PoC to establish an AI agent model specialized for health screening consultations and then expand its deployment to major CHA Medical Center health screening centers. LG CNS made a strategic investment in CHA Bio Group in January.

Naver has proposed expanding cooperation with French companies and institutions across artificial intelligence (AI) and other businesses.

Naver said Sept. 9 that CEO Choi Soo-yeon and Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yu-won met with French companies during South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's visit to France to discuss cooperation in AI infrastructure and content.

At a South Korea-France business roundtable held Sept. 8, Choi highlighted potential cooperation in three areas: global AI infrastructure, industry-specific AI with data sovereignty and security, and cultural content.

Choi noted that Naver recently announced plans with Nvidia and Brookfield to build more than 1 gigawatt of global AI factories. "We want to combine France's stable energy base with Naver's experience in the AI ecosystem to jointly build AI factories that can be used by European companies and startups," she said.

Choi also proposed supporting French companies in building industry-specific AI, citing Naver's financial AI "BOKI," developed with the Bank of Korea, and "Hy-NuRI," an AI system specialized for nuclear power plants and isolated from external networks, developed with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.

She also highlighted Naver Webtoon's business in France, where it has secured 2 million readers. "Based on our global webtoon platform and technological capabilities such as Toon Radar, our AI-powered copyright protection technology, we want to cooperate so that works created jointly by creators from both countries can reach readers around the world," Choi said.

Naver also signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with France's National Audiovisual Institute (INA) to combine AI technology with audiovisual cultural heritage archives. The two sides plan to explore ways to apply Naver's AI technology to INA's extensive audiovisual archives to efficiently analyze and organize content and make it easier for users to find and use the materials they need.

A South Korean court granted a divorce petition filed by the spouse of Smilegate founder and Chief Visionary Officer (CVO) Kwon Hyuk-bin. The court recognized the spouse’s contribution to the couple’s assets at 35%, resulting in a property division worth 2.55 trillion won, the largest in a South Korean divorce case.

The Seoul Family Court’s Family Division 3 on Sept. 9 granted the divorce of Kwon and his wife, identified by her surname Lee, and divided their assets 65% to Kwon and 35% to Lee.

Considering that most of Kwon’s assets are unlisted shares, the court ordered 35% of the shares to be transferred in kind and an additional 65 billion won to be paid in cash to cover the shortfall. The court assessed Kwon’s assets at about 7.34 trillion won, including about 7.10 trillion won worth of Smilegate shares. Lee was also designated as the legal custodian and caregiver of their child. Kwon must pay 20 million won in monthly child support at the end of each month until the minor child reaches adulthood.

A key issue in the lawsuit was how much of Kwon’s Smilegate holdings should be subject to property division. Kwon owns 100% of Smilegate. Because shares in the privately held company account for most of his assets, the size of the settlement depended heavily on how the court valued the stake.

Lee had initially sought half of Kwon’s Smilegate stake. She married Kwon in 2001, a year before Smilegate was founded. Lee argued that she held shares and participated in management during the company’s early years and later contributed to the accumulation of assets through household responsibilities and raising their children. Kwon maintained that Lee was not a co-founder and that her contribution to the company’s growth was relatively limited.

By the size of the property division, the ruling is the largest in a divorce involving a South Korean business executive. In an earlier retrial following a Supreme Court remand in the divorce case between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Art Center Nabi Director Roh Soh-yeong, the assets were divided one-third to Roh and two-thirds to Chey, with Chey ordered to pay 944 billion won.

Kwon’s lawyer said the legal team would review the ruling and decide on further proceedings in consultation with Kwon.

Intelligent power management company Eaton unveiled its next-generation data center power infrastructure strategy and key technologies at Eaton Data Center Tech Day 2026, held at the Atlas Hall of The Westin Seoul Parnas on Sept. 10.

Eaton's vice president of engineering for its Electrical Sector in Asia Pacific introduced a "power-to-chip" ecosystem and infrastructure design strategy for next-generation data centers. The company presented solutions including its 9395XR uninterruptible power supply (UPS), distributed power quality (DPQ) portfolio, AI data center cooling systems, prefabricated white space, grid interconnection and power distribution solutions, and electrical power monitoring systems (EPMS) to support the design, construction and operation of AI data centers.

A key Eaton solution is its medium-voltage solid-state transformer (MVSST). Based on advanced power electronics technology, the MVSST simplifies the conversion of high-voltage alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC), supporting 800VDC AI data center architectures. It is designed to reduce energy conversion losses and system complexity while improving reliability.

The MVSST provides system efficiency of up to 98.5% and power density of up to 277.7 kilowatts per square meter. Integrating medium- and low-voltage cabinets with converters can reduce installation space by as much as 50%, while simplified system configurations and prefabrication can cut overall project lead times by as much as 50%.

The MVSST also uses bidirectional power conversion to serve as an intelligent energy router, flexibly connecting the power grid with renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, energy storage systems (ESS) and DC microgrids. This enables energy flows between power sources and loads to be managed efficiently according to demand while supporting stable operation in high-power, high-density environments.

LG Uplus is entering the prefabricated artificial intelligence (AI) data center business and has begun developing standard models. The strategy is aimed at shortening AI data center construction times to capture rapidly growing demand for AI infrastructure.

LG Uplus signed a memorandum of understanding with GS E&C, Xi C&A, Gansam Architects & Partners and D&O CM on Sept. 4 at its Pyeongchon Mega Center in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, to establish a prefabricated modular data center (PMDC) alliance.

PMDC involves designing data center structures, power systems and cooling equipment to standardized specifications, manufacturing them in factories and transporting them to construction sites for assembly. Conventionally, power and cooling equipment and servers are installed sequentially after the building is constructed. PMDC allows site construction and production of major equipment to proceed simultaneously.

The biggest benefit is shorter construction time. Building a data center involves more than constructing the facility itself. Power equipment including substations and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), cooling systems and piping must be installed and tested to ensure they operate properly together. PMDC moves much of this work to factories, where systems can be assembled and tested in advance, reducing on-site work largely to connecting modules.

Schneider Electric has said modular data centers can reduce deployment times by as much as 60%. Vertiv has said that carrying out factory fabrication and on-site construction simultaneously can save more than 40% of the time required for conventional data centers. LG Uplus, however, has not disclosed how much construction time its 100 MW model is expected to save.

Shorter construction periods can also allow data center operators to recover their investments sooner. If it takes three to four years to complete a data center after securing a customer contract, no revenue is generated during that period. Bringing operations forward by several months means rental and operating revenue can also begin that much sooner.

Another advantage is greater flexibility in adjusting investment to demand. Rather than building the entire capacity at once, operators can install only the modules initially required and add more as demand grows. With rapid generational changes in AI graphics processing units (GPUs) and related equipment, the approach can reduce the risk of excessive upfront investment. Factory integration and testing of power and cooling equipment can also reduce on-site rework and interoperability problems.

LG Uplus said in June that it would adopt the PMDC construction method at its Paju AI data center project. The latest agreement advances that plan to the development of actual standard models. The five companies have been reviewing since April both a new-build PMDC model for 100 MW hyperscale data centers and a retrofit model for converting existing buildings into AI data centers.

Under the agreement, the five companies will have clearly defined roles. LG Uplus will establish data center operating standards, technical requirements and business direction, and validate the models. GS E&C will handle construction and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for new-build models. Xi C&A will be responsible for converting existing buildings and optimizing power and cooling systems, Gansam Architects & Partners will handle standardized design, and D&O CM will oversee project management.

SK Telecom and KT are also pursuing modular AI data centers. SK Telecom signed a three-way memorandum of understanding with Supermicro and Schneider Electric at MWC26 in Barcelona in March to develop an integrated solution that prefabricates power, cooling and IT infrastructure in modules for assembly on site.

KT Cloud said in its AI strategy unveiled in July that modular data centers, which use standardized modules for power, cooling and server environments that are assembled on site, can shorten construction times and simplify capacity expansion. KT Group plans to invest 6 trillion won in AI infrastructure over the next five years and build 1 gigawatt (GW) of AI data center capacity.

Kakao Games posted its seventh consecutive quarterly operating loss as revenue from existing titles declined and the company faced a gap in new game launches. The company is seeking a turnaround under its new co-CEO leadership structure and plans to launch its new title World of Dokkaebi in October.

Kakao Games said on Aug. 5 that it recorded consolidated revenue of 75 billion won and an operating loss of 23 billion won in the second quarter of 2026.

Revenue declined about 35% from a year earlier and approximately 10% from the previous quarter. The operating loss widened from the same period last year but narrowed by about 10% compared with the previous quarter.

By business segment, revenue from PC online games totaled about 22.3 billion won, up 51% from a year earlier. Compared with the previous quarter, however, it declined about 20%.

Mobile game revenue came to about 52.7 billion won, down 48% year over year and 4% from the previous quarter. The company said declining revenue from live-service games and the absence of major new game launches weighed on overall performance.

Kakao Games said it is reorganizing its game business under co-CEOs Kim Tae-hwan and Lee Si-woo. The company plans to review ongoing development projects and focus resources on launching key intellectual property (IP) titles that can drive earnings recovery.

Its first major release will be the mobile massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Dokkaebi. Kakao Games plans to begin pre-registration in August and is in the final stages of development ahead of an official launch in October.

Additional titles are scheduled to follow. Strategy-adventure role-playing game Dungeon Arise is slated for release later this year, while open-world zombie survival simulator God Save Birmingham and MMORPG Odin Q: Valkyrie's Call are expected to launch in early 2027.

The company is also expanding its game portfolio. Kakao Games has secured global publishing rights for PC MMORPG ArcheAge S: Strait of Freedom and pixel-art collectible action RPG Guardian Maiden. It also plans to collaborate with The Grimm Entertainment to develop and publish games based on popular comic and webtoon intellectual property.

Kakao Games said it will continue shareholder-return initiatives alongside its business restructuring efforts. Measures include the cancellation of 500,000 treasury shares, the introduction of a restricted stock unit (RSU) program for employees, the transfer of capital reserves to retained earnings, and purchases of company shares by senior management.

SK Telecom reported a sharp increase in second-quarter operating profit, driven by the absence of costs related to last year's USIM replacement program and continued cost-efficiency efforts. Revenue from its artificial intelligence (AI) data center business nearly doubled from a year earlier.

The company said on Aug. 5 that it posted consolidated revenue of 4.3591 trillion won and operating profit of 566 billion won for the second quarter of 2026. Revenue rose 0.5% from a year earlier, while operating profit increased 67.3%.

Net profit totaled 466 billion won, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 17% to 1.4423 trillion won. Capital expenditures (CAPEX) for the quarter were 487 billion won, down 23.3% from a year earlier.

On a standalone basis, SK Telecom recorded revenue of 3.117 trillion won, down 0.6% year over year. Operating profit climbed 70.5% to 427.7 billion won. Revenue at SK Broadband increased 3.6% to 1.1603 trillion won, supported by growth in its data center business, while operating profit rose 44.3% to 132.5 billion won.

Growth in the AI data center business stood out. Revenue from AI data centers reached 136.2 billion won in the second quarter, up 92.5% from 70.7 billion won a year earlier. Compared with 131.4 billion won in the previous quarter, revenue increased 3.6%.

The company said expanded data center operations and submarine cable business revenue drove the growth. AI business-to-business and business-to-consumer (B2B and B2C) revenue rose 24.5% year over year to 61.3 billion won and increased 36.2% from the previous quarter, aided by a growing backlog of AI cloud contracts.

SK Telecom established SK Hyper, a wholly owned subsidiary dedicated to AI data center business development, in July. The unit is responsible for securing data center sites and power resources, building and operating substations, constructing transmission and distribution infrastructure, and attracting customers.

The company's data center roadmap was also reaffirmed. SK Telecom plans to expand its current 137-megawatt data center footprint and begin opening AI data centers with a combined capacity of 5 gigawatts in phases starting in 2029. The company intends to expand capacity further to 15 gigawatts over time based on customer demand.

The company is also expanding its submarine cable business. SK Telecom launched the 10,500-kilometer SJC2 submarine cable system connecting Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore in July 2025. The 12,500-kilometer E2A submarine cable system linking the United States, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan is targeted to enter service in 2029.

SK Telecom also declared a second-quarter dividend of 830 won per share, unchanged from the first quarter. The company will therefore pay a cash dividend of 830 won per share for a second consecutive quarter.

LG CNS has been selected to lead the artificial intelligence transformation planning project for 14 airports operated by Korea Airports Corporation (KAC), including Gimpo, Gimhae and Jeju airports. The project will establish the data and system architecture, governance framework and implementation roadmap required to introduce AI into airport operations.

LG CNS said on Aug. 5 that it won KAC's "AI Master Plan (ISMP) Establishment" project.

The initiative covers 14 airports nationwide operated by KAC. Incheon International Airport is not included because it is managed separately by Incheon International Airport Corporation.

Under the project, LG CNS will provide AI strategy consulting, design AI and data architectures, establish AI governance, conduct proof-of-concept testing for key initiatives and develop execution plans for future projects. The company plans to define AI services aimed at optimizing airport operations, improving customer services and strengthening safety management systems.

LG CNS did not disclose the contract value or project duration. However, according to KAC's tender documents, the project is valued at approximately 3 billion won and will run for 365 days from the start date.

Since last year, KAC has been pursuing 50 AI innovation initiatives across airport operations, customer service and safety management. LG CNS will evaluate the feasibility and commercial viability of these projects and develop priorities and phased investment plans.

One example under consideration is an agentic AI-based field safety management service. Under the concept, airport employees could verbally report incidents, after which AI would summarize the information, generate draft reports and recommend appropriate response procedures. The service is not currently in operation and remains a candidate model whose functionality, data integration requirements and technical feasibility will be assessed during the master-planning process.

A key objective of the project is to unify AI initiatives and data resources scattered across 14 airports into a common framework. Before AI is deployed in airport operations, facility management, passenger guidance and safety response systems, the project will establish data standards, access-control policies, security requirements and accountability frameworks for AI decision-making.

Industry observers expect the actual deployment of AI systems to be tendered separately after completion of the master plan and proof-of-concept phase. Through the project, LG CNS could position itself for future opportunities involving AI system implementation, cloud migration, operations and maintenance services.

The contract aligns with LG CNS's broader strategy of expanding its external AI transformation (AX) business.

During a recent earnings presentation, the company said it was broadening its AI portfolio beyond manufacturing and logistics into sectors including pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, airports and aviation, and defense and shipbuilding. The KAC project represents a concrete example of the company's expansion strategy in the airport and aviation sector translating into new business.

Analysts have increasingly pointed to growth from external customers and industry diversification as key drivers of LG CNS's future performance.

Sun Yoo-jin, an analyst at LS Securities, wrote in a report published on Aug. 3 that the company's growth base is becoming more diversified through overseas and non-affiliated customers.

Mirae Asset Securities analyst Lim Hee-seok also said in a report published on July 31 that rising demand for AI transformation among enterprises is likely to accelerate growth in LG CNS's cloud, AI and digital business services segments. He cited the company's expanding non-affiliate revenue base and diversified customer portfolio as key competitive strengths.

LG AI Research has unveiled K-EXAONE 2.0, a large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) model with 750 billion parameters, more than tripling the size of its predecessor while adopting a commercially permissive open-source license.

The institute said on July 31 that it had released K-EXAONE 2.0 on Hugging Face as the second model developed under South Korea’s Independent AI Foundation Model Project, an initiative overseen by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The model does not activate its entire network for every request. Instead, it employs a Mixture of Experts (MoE) architecture that selectively engages only the components needed to answer a query. The system contains 256 specialized processing modules and dynamically selects eight experts for each token when generating responses. While the model contains 750 billion parameters in total, only 37 billion parameters are activated during inference. The approach is designed to preserve the knowledge capacity of a large model while reducing computational requirements and operating costs.

K-EXAONE 2.0 supports a context window of up to 262,144 tokens and expands language coverage to 10 languages, including Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese. LG AI Research also replaced its previous proprietary license with the Apache 2.0 license, allowing users to download, modify, and deploy the model commercially.

According to LG AI Research, the model achieved an average score of 70.1 across 24 benchmarks spanning nine evaluation categories, compared with 63.3 for the first-generation model. In the OpenAI-MRCR long-context retrieval benchmark, K-EXAONE 2.0 scored 94.4, exceeding the 93.0 achieved by Qwen 3.5 and the 92.9 recorded by DeepSeek V4 Pro Max.

Within South Korea, one of the most direct comparison points is SK Telecom’s A.X K2 model, unveiled on July 29. A.X K2 is also an MoE model, with 688 billion total parameters and 33 billion active parameters. Like K-EXAONE 2.0, it supports a maximum context length of 262,144 tokens and is released under the Apache 2.0 license.

The announcement did not include direct comparisons with leading commercial AI models such as OpenAI’s GPT series, Anthropic’s Claude, or Google’s Gemini. As a result, the published benchmark data alone does not provide a clear indication of how K-EXAONE 2.0 compares with the highest-performing proprietary global models.

Parameter count alone is also not a direct measure of real-world performance. User experience depends not only on reasoning capability but also on factors such as response speed, operating costs, integration with search and coding tools, multimodal capabilities, and service optimization.

The significance of the release lies in the fact that South Korean researchers have built a 750-billion-parameter-class model, including its training and inference infrastructure, and made it available under terms that allow enterprises to maintain control over deployment and customization.

The model’s competitive standing is expected to become clearer once results emerge from government-led evaluations conducted under standardized conditions, independent third-party benchmarks, and real-world deployment scenarios.

Samsung SDS expanded its top line in the second quarter on the back of growth in both its cloud and logistics businesses. However, operating profit remained largely flat compared with revenue growth. The company said it plans to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure capacity to more than 800 megawatts (MW) by 2031 and broaden AI transformation projects, particularly in the financial sector, to secure new growth drivers.

Samsung SDS reported preliminary consolidated second-quarter revenue of 3.7178 trillion won and operating profit of 231.8 billion won. Revenue increased 5.9% from a year earlier, while operating profit rose 0.7%.

Although revenue grew by nearly 6%, operating profit increased by less than 1%. As a result, the operating margin is estimated to have declined by about 0.3 percentage points to approximately 6.2% from about 6.6% a year earlier. While expansion in logistics operations and investment in AI infrastructure supported revenue growth, they have yet to translate into meaningful profitability improvements.

Revenue from the information technology (IT) services business rose 5% year over year to 1.7625 trillion won. Within that segment, cloud revenue increased 17% to 779.4 billion won. Cloud services accounted for approximately 44% of total IT services revenue.

In particular, cloud revenue from external customers outside Samsung affiliates surged 75% from a year earlier, leading overall growth. The performance suggests the company's business mix, which has historically relied heavily on internal group demand, is expanding into external markets including the public sector, financial services and manufacturing.

The cloud service provider (CSP) business grew 24%, driven by rising demand for the Samsung Cloud Platform and expanded Graphics Processing Unit as a Service (GPUaaS) offerings across public and private sectors. The managed service provider (MSP) business also increased 17%, supported by AI transformation projects in the financial industry and growth in enterprise resource planning projects within the shipbuilding sector. With Samsung SDS's IT services growth increasingly concentrated in cloud operations, the profitability of its cloud business and the pace of external customer acquisition are expected to play a critical role in future earnings performance.

Revenue from the logistics business rose 6.6% year over year to 1.9553 trillion won. Growth was driven by air freight forwarding and contract logistics operations centered on inland transportation and warehousing. External business generated through the company's digital logistics platform Cello Square also expanded. Logistics accounted for more than half of Samsung SDS's total revenue, supporting overall top-line growth.

Samsung SDS also said it plans to increase its AI infrastructure (data center) capacity, currently 110 MW, to 230 MW by 2029. By 2031, the company aims to expand capacity to more than 800 MW, including projects under its DBO (Design, Build and Operate) business model for data centers.

LG Uplus said on July 29 that its board of directors approved the repurchase of 90 billion won worth of treasury shares. The company said the repurchased shares will be used to enhance shareholder value through measures such as share cancellation. Separately, LG Uplus will invest an additional 1.3 trillion won in the second phase of its AI data center (AIDC) project in Paju.

The company previously canceled treasury shares with a book value of approximately 100 billion won in August last year. In May this year, it also canceled all treasury shares worth about 80 billion won that had been acquired since last year.

LG Uplus also declared an interim dividend of 270 won per share for 2026, an increase of about 8% from the previous year's interim dividend. The record date is Aug. 13, and the dividend will be paid on Aug. 28.

In a separate regulatory filing, the company announced an additional investment of approximately 1.3 trillion won for the second phase of its Paju AI data center project.

LG Uplus is currently constructing a 200-megawatt (MW) AI data center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, which it describes as the largest AI data center in the Seoul metropolitan area. The facility serves as the flagship site of the group's One LG AI infrastructure initiative, integrating LG Electronics' liquid-cooling technology, LG Energy Solution's high-performance uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries and LG Uplus' 27 years of data center operating expertise.

According to the company, the first data hall, scheduled for completion in June 2027, has already been fully leased. The additional investment will fund construction of the second and third data halls, related infrastructure investments and the design of a fourth data hall.

Krafton reported first-half revenue of 2.6616 trillion won and operating profit of 972.5 billion won, setting new records for both metrics on a half-year basis. Revenue and operating profit increased 73.3% and 38.3%, respectively, from a year earlier. First-half operating profit amounted to 92% of the company's total operating profit for all of 2025.

Second-quarter revenue reached 1.2902 trillion won, while operating profit totaled 410.9 billion won, up 94.9% and 67.0%, respectively, from the same period last year. Both figures marked record highs for a second quarter.

Revenue generated by the PUBG franchise increased 25% year over year during the first half. Subnautica 2, which entered early access in May, surpassed 5 million copies sold within 22 days of launch. The company said these performances drove its record first-half results. Revenue by business segment totaled 924.2 billion won from PC games, 1.1537 trillion won from mobile games, 37.7 billion won from console games and 546.0 billion won from other businesses.

Krafton also unveiled five titles targeted for release by 2027. The lineup includes the company's first new project based on the PUBG intellectual property, along with NO LAW, Project ZETA, Age Twisters, and TARAE: The Unbound.

The company also said it completed 300 billion won in treasury share repurchases and a 99.6 billion won capital reduction dividend during the first half. It canceled 336.2 billion won worth of treasury shares, including both newly acquired and previously held shares, and approved the cancellation of treasury shares repurchased during the second quarter. Krafton plans to repurchase an additional 100 billion won of treasury shares in the third quarter and cancel the entire amount.

Hancom reported record quarterly and first-half revenue driven by strong growth in artificial intelligence (AI) products, although operating profit declined as the company increased investments in AI development and commercialization.

The company said on July 30 that standalone revenue for the second quarter reached 52.1 billion won, up 11.9% from a year earlier. Operating profit fell 21.6% year over year to 13.4 billion won, resulting in an operating margin of 25.7%.

Standalone revenue for the first half totaled 98.6 billion won, an increase of 7.2% from the same period last year and the highest first-half revenue in the company's history. First-half operating profit declined 9.6% to 31 billion won, while the operating margin stood at 31.5%.

AI products were the primary driver of revenue growth. Hancom generated 13.5 billion won in AI-related revenue during the first half, surpassing its full-year AI revenue of 8.9 billion won recorded in 2025. AI products accounted for approximately 13.7% of standalone revenue during the period.

The company has been expanding sales of AI-enhanced offerings to existing Hancom Office customers, including Hancom Assistant, Hancompedia, and Hancom Docs AI. Revenue growth was driven by public-sector and enterprise customers upgrading traditional document software deployments to AI-integrated packages.

Despite stronger sales, profitability declined as Hancom increased spending on research and development, talent recruitment and commercialization initiatives related to AI products. The company also incurred upfront costs associated with bringing new products to market, contributing to lower margins despite higher revenue.

On a consolidated basis, first-half revenue totaled 183.6 billion won, up 24.6% from a year earlier. Consolidated operating profit declined 7.6% to 22.9 billion won. The trend of rising revenue and lower earnings was reflected across both the parent company and its subsidiaries.

Hancom has set full-year standalone targets of 210 billion won in revenue, 60 billion won in operating profit, and 31.5 billion won in AI revenue. As of the end of the first half, the company had achieved 47% of its revenue target, 51.7% of its operating profit goal and 42.9% of its AI revenue objective.

In the second half, Hancom plans to unveil a beta version of its Agentic Operating System (Agentic OS), designed to connect multiple AI models with enterprise workflow systems. The company said the initiative is part of its broader strategy to transform its business from a document software provider into an AI-powered workplace platform.

Kakao and its labor union have reached a tentative agreement in this year's wage negotiations, marking a significant step toward resolving a labor dispute that escalated into partial strikes and a full-day work stoppage following the breakdown of mediation talks in May.

According to industry sources on July 30, Kakao and the Kakao chapter of the Korean Chemical, Textile and Food Workers' Union reached a provisional agreement on wage negotiations the previous day. The two sides reportedly held 18 rounds of negotiations this year before arriving at the tentative deal.

The union plans to hold briefing sessions for members over two days next week to explain the proposed agreement. A ratification vote will then be conducted to determine whether union members approve the terms. If approved, the agreement will proceed to formal signing, concluding this year's negotiations.

Key details, including the wage increase rate and performance bonus amounts, have not been disclosed. Both management and the union agreed not to release specifics of the tentative agreement until the membership vote is completed.

As a result, it remains unclear how far the final terms differ from the proposals previously put forward by either side. The details are expected to be announced only after the agreement is formally ratified.

Major issues during the negotiations included the overall salary increase rate, the size of the performance bonus pool and whether restricted stock units (RSUs) should be included when calculating performance-based compensation.

Kakao currently grants RSUs worth approximately 5 million won to long-serving employees. The union has argued that RSUs should be treated separately from cash performance bonuses rather than being counted as part of a single compensation package.

According to industry sources, the union had sought a cash performance bonus of roughly 10 million won per employee in addition to separate RSU awards. The company maintained that overall compensation, including RSUs, as well as future investment obligations, should be considered when determining bonus levels.

The tentative agreement applies only to wage negotiations involving Kakao's parent company and does not cover all affiliates within the Kakao group.

Meanwhile, the labor union at KakaoBank remains in a separate wage dispute and has announced plans to conduct a full-day strike on July 31 following the breakdown of its own negotiations.

South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) has imposed a fine of approximately 54 billion won on KT over a personal data breach involving unauthorized small-cell base stations.

The PIPC said on July 30 that it had held a plenary meeting on July 29 and resolved to impose corrective measures against KT, including an administrative fine of 53.979 billion won and an additional penalty of 7.2 million won, after determining that the company violated the Personal Information Protection Act.

The case involves the theft of personal information and mobile authentication data from KT subscribers through the use of illegal femtocells. Femtocells are small cellular base stations installed in locations such as buildings and underground facilities to improve mobile network coverage.

According to the investigation, attackers extracted digital certificates from lost or misplaced KT femtocells and installed them on unauthorized devices they had built themselves. The illegal femtocells were then used to connect to KT's mobile network and induce subscribers' devices to route communications through them. Through this process, the attackers obtained phone numbers, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) numbers and International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers.

The attackers subsequently combined the stolen information with names and dates of birth to initiate mobile micropayment transactions. Authentication codes delivered through text messages and automated voice calls were intercepted and used to complete the transactions.

The PIPC determined that 16,647 individuals had their personal information exposed. Among them, 368 people suffered unauthorized micropayment transactions, resulting in financial losses totaling approximately 240 million won.

KT initially reported that 22,227 subscribers had been affected. However, the PIPC adjusted the figure after removing duplicate records, including corporate accounts and multiple subscriptions held by the same individual.

The regulator concluded that KT had failed to adequately manage its femtocell infrastructure and internal network access controls. Investigators found that femtocell certificates were issued with a validity period of 10 years and that access was not restricted by Internet Protocol (IP) address, allowing connections from external networks, including overseas locations.

The investigation also found that attackers could bypass the femtocell management server, while the company lacked mechanisms to detect or block connections from unregistered cell identifiers. No additional authentication procedures were required when unauthorized femtocells connected to KT's internal network.

According to the PIPC, the attackers maintained access to KT's internal network for approximately 11 months, from October 2024 through September 2025. KT discovered the unauthorized access only after receiving customer complaints related to fraudulent micropayment activity.

The regulator calculated the administrative fine based on revenue generated from KT's LTE and 5G mobile communications services. It classified the incident as a "serious violation," citing actual financial harm to customers, the duration of the breach and deficiencies in security safeguards.

During the investigation, the PIPC also found indications that KT had previously failed to report a malware infection to relevant authorities and had deleted logs associated with affected servers.

KT reportedly discovered a backdoor malware infection on certain servers in March 2024 but did not report a personal data breach. At the beginning of the investigation, the company stated that no relevant records had been preserved. However, digital forensic analysis later uncovered evidence suggesting that logs had been deleted.

The PIPC said it plans to refer KT to investigative authorities on the grounds that the company submitted false information and obstructed the investigation.

The regulator noted that the 53.979 billion won fine relates specifically to the personal data breach involving illegal femtocells. Whether additional personal information was exposed through malware-infected servers will be determined separately through ongoing investigations and follow-up reviews.